Monday, March 16, 2009

Rhizome Collective Sounds International Call


7 min. ~ Download
embedding options @ Blip TV or U2B

The Rhizome Collective is a consensus-run 501c3 nonprofit organization that has operated a center for community organizing and urban sustainability in an East Austin warehouse since 2000. This warehouse was inspected on March 3rd by officials from the Building and Standards Commission of the City of Austin. On Thursday, March 5th The Code Enforcement Division of The City of Austin delivered a letter outlining a list of code violations to the Collective. The City mandated that the residents and organizations based in the warehouse must vacate before March 16th. The Collective is looking into all options, but is preparing to vacate the warehouse by the deadline. Before this inspection, the Collective was in negotiations to buy the warehouse from its current owner.

Related Links ::: Rhizome Collective

Saturday, March 14, 2009

SXSW Interactive: Bar Camp


Today was the official second day of South By South West Interactive, and I had the great fortune of attending some of the free workshops surrounding the highly expensive event at Bar Camp. As a luddite, I found this quite an edifying experience.

A lot of the information today was on social media and social networking. I did not take notes on the Facebook class, tho I probably should have, but frankly, I find Facebook and Twitter to be a necessary bore. I suppose I have what is called in the industry “social media fatigue”. The good news is that if you have more money than sense you can sign up for portals like OneSpot (for 150 clams a month after the initial trial period) as a highly personalized feed aggregating system, or TarPipe, to act as a distribution tool to get the word out to many of your sites at once. And, Augmented Reality is totally cool, but completely beyond my personal scope of techdom.

I met four guys, The Innovators Road Trip, who traveled the country to different corporations including Zappos, Maker’s Mark, and Ford Motor Company (to name a few) researching industry innovations. These guys are sweet and cool, and you really ought to check their stuff out. They work a lot using the iPhone and all that jazz to get the word out stat.

Denver Open Media presented on the use of Drupal to create an Open Media Project System. These great folks, whom I had the pleasure of working with during the DNC, are helping to open six new Open Media Stations throughout the US this year! Support ‘em if you can!

Prolly the coolest presentation that I saw was by this British dude that started RewiredState. These kids realized that the worst web sites out there are frequently run by the government. They decided ply geeks with beer to hack the websites and put up something better. They bought the British equivalent of $250 of beer and recruited about 100 geeks (geeks don’t drink much?) and hacked 30 government websites in 24 hours. A lot of stats, I know, but these kids really rocked the Kasbah, and you can too!

Now here comes the weird part. We were waiting to hear a presentation on live broadcasting, and were in the wrong place or it was canceled, I’m not sure. But what I saw and heard blew my freakin’ mind. These cats at Harvard are doing electron microscopic computer imaging of neuron patterns with the intent of creating the framework for greater capacity Artificial Intelligence. The crux of the so called biscuit is the resolution vs. the volume of data that can be obtained and thereby analyzed. The latest development is Ken Hayworth’s brain slicer, which works a lot like an apple peeler, and can slice cerebral cortex into a ribbon 1 millimeter in width by 20 nanometers thick, enabling the computer to roughly trace every neural connection in the brain. By breaking the brain into a neural map, it becomes a matter of engineering to create Artificial Intelligence that surpasses today’s exponentially. The only inhibitors to the creation of a super Artificial Intelligence are money and time. I wanted to ask the guy how much of his funding comes from the Military Industrial Complex, but as a pacifist, I chickened out.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Under the Hood is Under their Noses


8 min. ~ Download
embedding options @ Blip TV or U2B

This new GI infoshop near Fort Hood Texas is run by IVAW members and their supporters. Catering to knowledge & dissent they offer a real alternative to getting lied to and yelled at about your rights in the military... with cream & sugar.

Related Links ::: Under the Hood Cafe, other coverage @

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Austin Winter Soldier - Rooster Romriell


9 min. ~ Download
embedding options @ Blip TV or U2B

Rooster Romriell's Winter Soldier Testimony from 2.28.09 in Austin Texas.
"So we killed him" "Obama's no friend of the Veteran"

Related Links ::: Austin IVAW, more coverage @

Monday, March 2, 2009

How to Become a Detainee of the US Government


10 min. ~ Download
embedding options @ Blip TV or U2B

Ronn Cantu's Winter Soldier Testimony from 2.28.09 in Austin Texas.
Finally we can know what it takes to become a Detainee of the US government... 2 people that are broke and don't like you.

Related Links ::: Austin IVAW, more coverage @

Winter Soldier - Bobby Whittenberg


4 min. ~ Download
embedding options @ Blip TV or U2B

Winter Soldier Testimony by Bobby Whittenberg
2.28.09 Austin Texas

Related Links ::: IVAW

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Winter Soldier: South Central Region

download this clip!

Feb. 28, 2009 in Austin Texas the Iraq veterans Against the War held the Winter Soldier for the South Central Region. In this clip you get to hear about the war crimes that are committed in YOUR name. So check it out.

You know, as long as there is some asshole that will go enlist to kill people, there will be war. I used to think that, like darwin, these folks would eventually kill each other off, and the world would be a more peaceful place. Now with Barack-the- war-monger in office wanting to expand our military by 17,000 troops in Afghanastan, my theory may be tested. Enlisting is up with the current economic downturn, but really people, wouldn't you and your family be more secure if you learned to garden and grow your own food. Keep the shotgun in the closet for defending your country, and your veggies as the food crisis becomes more apparent.

If the economic squeeze is not enough to produce the desired 17,000 warm bodies to the military, maybe the Rahm style "years of service" will become the draft. I mean, we've already sent the national gaurd. who next? Mail Men?

Anyway, anybody who thinks this new administration is anything but worse than the last as far as our economy, the draft, our overxtended military, etc., I challenge YOU to make your case here in the comments.

Who knows, you might change someones mind...
xoxox
skinnychef